2 Chronicles 3

“Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.  And he began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.” 1 Chronicles 3:1-2 (NKJV)

God is not arbitrary. That is comforting news, because it says we can trust the character of God. He is ever-present, all-knowing, and all-powerful. So, when God decides to do something, we don’t have to ask if He has seen it from all angles, understands the ramifications of His decision, has the power to finish what He is starting, or if He has the right motives.

Solomon is building God’s temple in Jerusalem, on the exact spot where the Lord told David that He wanted the temple to stand, Mount Moriah. But, when we hear that location, doesn’t it echo and harken us back to an earlier time?

“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” Genesis 22:1-3 (NKJV)

Because of what we already know of God, that He is not arbitrary, we understand how He planned for the exact spot where the Lord led Abraham to offer up his son Isaac (and where He provided the ram as a substitute) to be the precise spot where Solomon would build His temple. Furthermore, it was on the same mountain where Jesus, the Lamb of God, would be offered as our sin substitute! (Not at the temple, per se, but on the same mountain, outside the walls of the city. About the length of an arrow shot.) Coincidence? Hardly.  

At the end of today’s chapter, we learn of two pillars that Solomon erected. Because the pillars are named, we know they acted as stand-alone statements.

“Then he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; he called the name of the one on the right hand Jachin, and the name of the one on the left Boaz.” 2 Chronicles 3:17 (NKJV)

Jachin means “Ya is One” or “Ya Establishes  .” Boaz means “Strength  .” The intended statement these pillars represent is simple: As long as the King (and Israel) seek the Lord and Him alone, He will establish them by His strength. Have you committed to following the Lord through a personal relationship with Messiah Jesus, forsaking all else to heed His calling on your life? Then He will establish you in the strength of His Spirit! Let’s keep reading to see how Solomon & Israel heed His Word.